{"id":1301878,"date":"2018-12-28T11:52:42","date_gmt":"2018-12-28T18:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1801869"},"modified":"2018-12-28T11:52:42","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T18:52:42","slug":"our-favorite-18-songs-from-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/music-news\/our-favorite-18-songs-from-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Favorite 18 Songs from 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:ao:image:cmt.com:271048?width=1200&amp;height=675&amp;.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"\/><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"byline\">by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/cmtcomstaff\/\" title=\"Posts by CMT.com Staff\" rel=\"author\">CMT.com Staff<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\">19m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>2018 was a monumental year for ballads, breakup anthems, bold declarations, and honky-tonk swagger, and picking a best-of list seemed more daunting than ever before. So, the staff at CMT.com compiled a list of our personal favorite songs of the year instead.<\/p>\n<p>Some you may recognize a few hits, some as standout moments and some you may not recognize at all. We hope you find a new favorite amongst this diverse compilation, listed in no particular order.<\/p>\n<p><em>Contributing to the list are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/bonaguroa\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alison Bonaguro<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/morrise\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Edward Morris<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/stephenss\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Samantha Stephens<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/tinglel\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lauren Tingle<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul class=\"listicle-container\">\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cBreak Up in the End\u201d by Cole Swindell<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>I wouldn\u2019t exactly call this a break-up song. Yes, the couple does split, but the gist of this song is that even knowing that that is the inevitable end, there are no regrets. He\u2019d go through it all over again. That\u2019s how good the love was. And the way Swindell sings it lets his voice shine, more so than on any of his uptempo hits. Moving ballads may not be what\u2019s hot on country radio right this minute, but if this song is any indication, maybe they\u2019re on their way back. <em>AB<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cGot My Name Changed Back\u201d by Pistol Annies<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Is the part about Lambert\u2019s ex getting along good with a couple road whores real? We\u2019ll never know because it\u2019s none of our business. But it\u2019s a small mystery that makes \u201cGot My Name Changed Back\u201d so addicting. Arguably the greatest breakup anthem to come out of 2018, it packs a punch in less than three minutes not only lyrically but musically, as well. There\u2019s a steady build that starts with an infectious drum groove and goes from there with burning acoustic slide guitar solos. Lambert boldly takes the lead listing all the things that come with divorce while singing about not letting an ex get the best of you. <em>LT<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cLife Changes\u201d by Thomas Rhett<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Any song that can combine college dorm life with adopting a baby from Uganda is already five on a scale of five in my book. And it\u2019s all so irresistibly bouncy, upbeat and believable. <em>EM<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cThe Mother\u201d by Brandi Carlile<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>I have always been told that motherhood is one of the single greatest sacrifices and blessings a woman can ever experience. I wouldn\u2019t know yet, because I am not a mother. But like so many I long to be, and like so many other artists I know, the pull of one\u2019s career seems to constantly be in a tug-of-war with the dream of parenthood. It\u2019s easy to glorify and romanticize the balance of both, but Carlile\u2019s raw and utterly vulnerable portrait life as an artist and most importantly, a devoted, working mother cuts right to the heart of the matter. The verses don\u2019t always rhyme or flow perfectly, but isn\u2019t that life? The is the purest, most honest testimony to sacrifice and unconditional love you\u2019ll hear all year, and it leaves my heart swollen with longing everytime I listen to it. <em>SS<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cKite\u201d by Lucie Silvas<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>\u201cKite\u201d is a dark and funky anthem for all the wild women out there. They never get the blues because they refuse to be tied down by people or thoughts that don\u2019t serve them. Foot stomps and hand claps hold the backbeat while guitars dance around Silvas\u2019 vocals. Then there is the nonstop attitude and expressive guitar work by husband John Osborne and Derek Wells. <em>LT<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cMy Religion\u201d by Dierks Bentley<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>When you say it like that \u2014 that loving me is not your decision, but it is your religion \u2014 well then, the feeling is mutual. This song is so simple, and almost kind of quiet, but in my heart, it feels loud. The piano, especially. That combined with his suitably weathered vocals makes what he has to say sound so believable. Like he truly feels that it\u2019s out of his hands. I give Bentley bonus points for letting the traditional country instrumentation echo his surrender. <em>AB<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cPrayer and Six Pack\u201d by Kimberly Kelly<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Who says girls can\u2019t honky-tonk like the boys? Texas native turned Nashvillian Kelly created quite a stir this year with her independent EP <em>Don\u2019t Blame It On Me<\/em>, a tried and true blue ode to the twang of her childhood and the glory days of countrypolitan. The five tracks range from steel-centric ballads to rowdy, fiddle-riddled honky-tonk anthems, like \u201cPrayer and a Six Pack.\u201d Kelly stands out, eschewing stereotypes of modern country by favoring classic sounds and subject matter, and style\u2014her own included. <em>SS<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cThe Man Who Comes Around\u201d by Motel Mirrors<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>I\u2019m a sucker for a good story about people I\u2019ve never met; especially when it involves a flirtatious and sordid affair involving the ice man. Motel Mirrors\u2019 John Paul Keith and Amy LaVere deliver on \u201cThe Man Who Comes Around,\u201d a swinging two-step shuffle with fiery guitar solos by Will Sexton. The perspective is from the mother\u2019s children who consider the ice man someone they want to grow up to be because it seems as if his job is just to screw around and have fun with mom. <em>LT<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cGuy Going\u2019 Nowhere\u201d by Garth Brooks<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>It\u2019s impossible not to love this song from Ashley McBryde\u2019s debut album. It has a low key how-do-you-like-me-now vibe, as she\u2019s telling everyone who discouraged her from following her dream that they were wrong. But to hear Garth Brooks sing it on his <em>Triple Live<\/em> album, knowing he recorded his version at the Spokane Arena, feels even more vindicating. How good must it feel to sing, \u201cI see the crowd, I look around, and I can\u2019t find an empty chair\u201d to chairs full of 12,000 fans, after putting in time at a whole lotta run-down dives and rain-soaked fairs? <em>AB<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cDownturn\u201d by Adam Hood<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Hood\u2019s mournful ballad is the essence of coupledom in that love was never meant to be an easy ride. In Hood\u2019s lyrics, one partner checks in on the other, who is clearly having the blues in music. In the bridge, he offers words anyone can relate to: \u201cThe circles I run in are cycles older than time \/ But I refuse to abide an unchanging life.\u201d Dead. <em>LT<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cStoned Age\u201d by Hannah Dasher<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>In a year where we said goodbye to the \u201cBandit,\u201d no first line of a song hit harder than Dasher\u2019s single \u201cStoned Age\u201d \u2014 \u201cBam, bam \/ Burt Reynolds in a jet black Trans-Am.\u201d What a picture in our minds. \u201cStoned Age\u201d cuts deep to the most nostalgic corners of your mind, rolls along a perfectly lazy groove and lingers like a solid high you don\u2019t want to come down from. Dasher\u2019s blend of sassy country, fuzzy rock \u2019n\u2019 roll, charged guitar licks and unabashed blues is so sharp, it\u2019s sure to carve out the perfect spot for her in the country music arena. She has more than earned her signature hashtag: \u201cHannah Damn Dasher.\u201d <em>SS<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cRearview Town\u201d by Jason Aldean<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Small towns began spouting arterial blood with the arrival of the interstate highway system. Then came satellite television, affordable airline tickets, the Internet and, ultimately, Walmart to drain what little communal life remained. Aldean alludes to a broken romance as the trigger event for leaving his particular cluster of broken dreams. But, as he bitterly concludes, \u201cI could tough it out, but what\u2019s the use?\u201d <em>EM<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cAlabama\u201d by Bishop Gunn<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Who doesn\u2019t love a good thriller? Featuring bare handclaps, stomps, acoustic blues and haunting Gospel singing by Geoffrey Robinson (\u201cG. Mane\u201d), it\u2019s a fictional story written by Nicolette Hayford and the band\u2019s Travis McCready and Ben Lewis about a driver who picks up a strange woman with a calling from the Lord to go to Alabama. But a dark twist unravels when the driver notices she\u2019s carrying a pistol. It all started with Hayford\u2019s line, \u201cHigher than a junkie dryin\u2019 out in the slammer \/ Lord I hope I don\u2019t die in Alabama.\u201d <em>LT<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cDie From a Broken Heart\u201d by Maddie &amp; Tae<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>\u201cMama, the nerve of this guy.\u201d Man. I am somebody\u2019s daughter and somebody\u2019s mother. So, I can relate to that lyric and this song all day long. Any time a country song can tackle the mother-daughter bond in a new way, I am all about it. And in this one, like most of Maddie &amp; Tae\u2019s music, it captures the emotions so perfectly. Marlow\u2019s voice \u2014 heavy with heartbreak \u2014 is able to make you feel like you are right there, eavesdropping on her conversation with her mom and dad. <em>AB<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cMiss Me More\u201d by Kelsea Ballerini<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Surrendering oneself to a lover has long been a songwriting convention. Remember \u201cStand By Your Man?\u201d Well, says Ballerini, let that insanity stop right here! I don\u2019t know about you, but I\u2019m inclined to humor her. <em>EM<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cSad Girls\u201d by Jillian Jacqueline<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>I first heard Jacqueline sing this Tofer Brown and Lori McKenna original during a writer\u2019s round at Nashville\u2019s 3rd &amp; Lindsley and instantly my heart sank. Maybe because I\u2019d recently had my heart nicked, maybe because it\u2019s lyrics painted such a visceral picture that I felt like I was in the back seat of that car. One of Jacqueline\u2019s many strong suits, in addition to turn-of-phrase and impeccable imagery, is relatability. We\u2019ve all been the passenger in that car, stuck on a road to nowhere, wishing you were anywhere but where you are with no end in sight. <em>SS<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"heading-container\">\n<h3 class=\"heading\"><strong>\u201cHands On You\u201d by Ashley Monroe<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"description-container\">\n<p>Holy smokes: that\u2019s the first thought we all had upon hearing Monroe\u2019s scintillating single from her 2018 release <em>Sparrow<\/em>. It was everything you\u2019d want a long-anticipated follow-up record to be and then some because I don\u2019t know that anyone was expecting this downright sexy throwback of a tune to come from this East Tennessee songbird. Monroe digs deeper on this record, fully immersing herself in every complex layer of her spirit and her womanhood, which is an important message for all womankind, especially new mothers out there like Monroe. Never forget your power, your gifts, your sensuality \u2014 and own them all. <em>SS<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1801869\/our-favorite-18-songs-from-2018\/\" target=\"_blank\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by CMT.com Staff 19m ago 2018 was a monumental year for ballads, breakup anthems, bold declarations, and honky-tonk swagger, and picking a best-of list seemed more daunting than ever before. So, the staff at CMT.com compiled a list of our personal favorite songs of the year instead. Some you may recognize a few hits, some [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1301878","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-11 05:56:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1301878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1301878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1301878\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1301878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1301878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1301878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}